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Trade in Services for development - Empowering LAC countries to reap development dividends

International trade and integration
16 May 2024|Event

Services have emerged as the driving force shaping the economic landscape of countries at all levels of development. Services trade has become a key element in growth strategies, becoming the most dynamic component of global trade in recent times.

In 2023, the WTO and the World Bank jointly published a study entitled 'Trade in Services for Development', which underscored the significant and multifaceted development impact of trade in services and the important opportunities it offers to developing countries in terms of export-led growth, economic diversification, inflows of foreign direct investment, enhanced regulatory governance, and integration into global value chains.

The co-publication argues that increased levels of Aid for Trade in services are required to help developing countries take fuller advantage of the growth and development opportunities presented by services trade. It advances a Trade in Services for Development Initiative, spelling out the broad elements of an Aid for Trade roadmap for services aimed at facilitating international cooperation and scaling up the capacity of developing countries to participate more meaningfully in services trade and engage in services deliberations.

This webinar will allow for a discussion of the development impact of trade in services and situate global trends in the context of Latin America and the Caribbean. It will promote exchanges on possible elements, at the regional level, of a work programme on trade in services to increase the participation of developing countries in global services trade and help them harness the development promise of a world more service-centric world economy.

 

 

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English-Spanish interpretation provided

Moderated by WTO Deputy Director-General, Johanna Hill

16 May 2024

  • Opening remarks by

    15:30 to 15:35

    • Johanna Hill, DDG, WTO

    • José Manuel Salazar, Executive Secretary, ECLAC

  • Trade in Services for Development: Overview, Key Trends in Trade in Services, and the Contribution of Services Trade Policies

    15:35 to 15:55

    • Martin Roy, Counsellor, WTO

  • Discussion – Relevance for Latin America and the Caribbean

    15:55 to 16:15

    • Anabel González, Vice-President for Countries, IDB: Policy Reforms in Services: Where Next for LAC?

    • Nanno Mulder, Chief, International Trade Unit, ECLAC: Key Services Trends in LAC: What Do the Numbers Say?

  • 'Trade in Services for Development' Initiative: Possible Elements of an Aid for Trade Work Programme to Assist Developing Countries

    16:15 to 16:35

    • Pierre Sauvé, Senior Trade Specialist, World Bank

  • Discussion of the proposed Aid for Trade components with regional experts and representatives from selected governments from the region

    16:35 to 16:55

    • Francisco A. Lima Mena, Secretary-General, Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration

    • Vilma I. Arbaje de Contreras, Vice Minister of International Trade, Dominican Republic [TBC]

    • Alejandro Buvinic, Director of the Division on Services, Investment, and Digital Economy, Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations, Chile

    • Jamaica – Representative TBC

  • Concluding remarks from

    16:55 to 17:00

    • Anabel González, Vice-President for Countries, IDB
    • Johanna Hill, DDG, WTO

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